Luisa crinkled her nose in disgust. She walked out of Knight’s stall brushing horse hair and dust off her jeans. Thankfully, only a little swelling remained from his kicking the wall the day before. In a day or two, they’d be back at work in Luisa’s arena.As she walked toward the bright sunlight shining into the barn aisle, the old black telephone inside the barn door caught her attention. She resolved to contact Marie at lunch. Then she’d contact Cindy and invite her out for dinner.A car horn broke into her thoughts. Disappointment twisted around her heart. She enjoyed the solitude of the ranch, the heavenly quiet. Luisa lifted a hand to block the early morning rays to see who drove under the ranch’s wooden arch. She immediately recognized Cindy’s rich plum BMW convertible. Relief flooded her. “Cindy. Hi!” Luisa broke into a jog and caught her friend in a mutual hug when Cindy jumped out of her dust-covered car. “You know, my car was clean when I left town. It was even clean when I got to your ranch road.”
